Lakshmana isn't dead
by DarkLordFluffy
Summary: In this world Mohan Ghale only almost killed Lakshmana Min. Ishwari killed him before he could do it. Then she fled to America with both her children. When she dies, she has both her children take her back to Kyrat.
1. Chapter 1

Once upon a time there was a king. This king was named Pagan Min. He wasn't born a king. He was born a criminal. But the kingdom was at war and he used that to his advantage, killing the young heir to the throne and taking the throne for himself. In his opinion he was a great king. A lot of people disagreed with that opinion. Most notably the Golden Path, a resistance movement. A man named Mohan Ghale led this movement. One day, Mohan ordered his own wife, Ishwari, to infiltrate the Royal Palace as a spy and gain the king's confidence. She brought her infant son, Ajay, with her. For two years she did her job as a spy well. But then she fell in love with the king. And had a daughter with him named Lakshmana. Furious at finding this information out, Mohan tried to kill Lakshmana. Officially, Mohan succeeded, and Ishwari killed him in revenge. She then escaped to America with her son, Ajay. Officially, Lakshmana Min was made a martyr and the country mourned her death. Unofficially however... Ishwari raised two children in America, not just one.

Lana Ghale was a bit of a wild child. Her older brother Ajay always had difficulties keeping her from getting into trouble. She was always pulling him along into her adventures. Ishwari insisted on having both of her children taught hand to hand combat, and made sure they did well in their school work. She was especially hard on Lana when it came to her education, as well as her martial arts training. Lana didn't mind though. She learned several different forms of martial arts over the years, and quite enjoyed all of it. Lana became top of her class at school, Ajay not far behind her. Ajay would've fallen in with the wrong crowd if it wasn't for his sister, so he was very thankful for her.

When Lana graduated college she insisted on going with some friends to travel the world in one last bit of fun before becoming part of the 'real world'. Ishwari let her go, but only if her brother went with her. So Ajay had to spend the next few months dragging his sister out of trouble, all over the world. While they were in Indonesia, he talked her out of doing some skydiving over some tropical islands. He thought it was super sketchy that some random DJ suggested it. In Japan she nearly got arrested for beating up some locals who were hitting on her lewdly. Ajay has no idea how he got her out of that one. The list went on. Ajay was exhausted by the end of it. But he admitted that he did have fun and his sister and her friends had a blast.  
Shortly after they got home, they learned that their mother was dying of breast cancer. She hadn't wanted to ruin their trip so she hadn't told them. In that time, it had metastasized into her liver. So they only a few days to say goodbye to her. When they were at her bed side she told them all about Kyrat, about how beautiful it was and her regrets for leaving it behind. Then a short while later she was dead. Lana punched in a hospital wall. The hospital charged them for it but Ajay was just glad that Lana didn't break her hand doing it.

There was a small but lovely funeral. Several people that Ishwari had made friends of over the years attended. Lana gave a lovely, touching speech.

A week or so later, the will was read. As it turned out, their mother had made an last minute amendment before she died. It read: "Lana, Ajay. I have but one last wish. Take me back to Kyrat. Take me home."

"We have to do it Ajay! It's what she wanted!" Lana said as she was packing.

"I know. But have you done any research on Kyrat? Its a dangerous country. We need to think about this."

"There's nothing to think about. We're going! Pack your bag Ajay and be a man!" Lana said.

A week later they were in Patna, India waiting for a bus to take them to Kyrat. The bus that arrived was a small rickety thing that Ajay eyed dubiously but Lana stepped inside without hesitation. Ajay rolled his eyes and followed his sister. When Lana sat down she put in earbuds and listened to some music, completely unconcerned that they were about to go to a dangerous country. The US embassy in India even said that it was a bad idea when Ajay called.

Ajay sat across from a man who introduced himself as Darpan. Ajay stared out the window at the beautiful scenery as they made their way to Kyrat.

Lana was listening to Fall Out Boy next to him, humming ever so often. Ajay took out his mother's ashes and stared at them for a bit.

When they got close to the border, the man named Darpan asked Ajay for his passport. Ajay handed it to him. Darpan looked at it and then pulled out some cash slid it into the passport. Ajay figured it was because the Kyrat border guards would want money to ease them through. Ajay thanked him and took his passport back. Lana was still listening to Fall Out Boy, dancing in her seat.

When they got to the border crossing, a man at the front of the bus asked for passports. Ajay got handed a passport from the man behind him and passed that passport and his passport and his sister's to a woman in front of him. A monkey almost grabbed them but she slapped it and took the passports and then passed them along. The man at the front got out of the bus and tried handing the passports to a border guard but the border guard argued with him and then slapped them from his hand. Before Ajay knew it, two men ran out the back of the bus and started shooting at the guards, The guards shot them and started shooting at the bus. Lana grabbed Ajay and snuck him out the back of the bus, the man named Darpan following behind them. One of the guards knocked Lana to the ground with the butt of their gun.

"Motherfucker!" She yelled clutching her face. The guard kicked her in the ribs. She grabbed hold of his leg and dropped him to the ground and would've pummeled him if the other guards hadn't come and pointed her guns at her.

"Get down on the ground! Get down now!" the guards yelled.

Just then, a helicopter chose that time to touch down right in front of them. The door slid open and a man in with bleached blond hair and magenta pants walked out. Ajay would have found the man's style choices funny if the man hadn't looked so intimidating. The man walked up, saw the devastation of the bus and put his head in his hand shaking his head in exasperation.

"I distinctly remember saying Stop the bus. Yes, Stop the bus. Not Shoot the bus. I am very particular with my words. Stop. Shoot. Stop. Shoot. Do those words sound the same?" the man said menacingly to one of the guards.

"But it got out of control." said the very scared guard.

"I'm sorry. I didn't hear. What you did you say?" asked the man.

"It got out of control." the guard said a little louder.

"It got out of control..." the bleach blond man said.

"I hate when things get out of control." the man said before stabbing the guard with a pen repeatedly. "You had one fucking job and you couldn't fucking do it!"

After the man stopped stabbing the guard he sat down on the ground and complained of the fact that he got blood on his shoes. Then he noticed Ajay.

"At least there's a silver lining. You didn't completely fuck it up." The man said to the dead guard as he stood up, pulling Ajay to his feet. "I'd recognize those eyes anywhere." He said smiling at Ajay and then hugged him.

Then he noticed Lana and her bruised face.

"Who. Hit her? I want to know who hit her!" the man yelled. He punched another guard in the face. "Do you like how that feels?! Do you?" Then he went up to Lana and got her to her feet. "You look just like your mother. Welcome home."

"I'm so sorry about all this. This was supposed to be...well not like this. We have a party waiting for you." He said before looking at Darpan who is still lying on the ground. "Though I don't think I know your name. Who is this?" He kneeled in front of Darpan. "Is this your plus one?" he asked Ajay.

"Strong silent type, I like it."

The man got up and his soldiers bound Darpan's hands and put a bag over his head.

"I am terribly embarrassed about all of this. This was supposed to be very simple, but you know, if you perform to monkeys they just throw their shit at each other. Would you hold this?" He said as he handed Ajay the pen he stabbed the guard with and proceeded to get a selfie with Ajay and Lana.

"Don't worry about a thing. This will soon be behind us. And we'll be off on our grand adventure..." He said as the soldiers lit the bus on fire behind them. "because I have cleared my calendar for you. You two and I are going to tear shit up!" He said dramatically as he walked to the helicopter. Then bags got placed on both Ajay and Lana's heads. And they were led to the helicopter. Then the helicopter flew into the air. Sometime later it touched down somewhere and Lana and Ajay were led somewhere and told to sit down.

"Give my congratulations to Ashley on your next visit home. I must say Paul, your little corner of Kyrati is rather beautiful. I expected more chains and wailing but knowing you, somewhere around here is a dark place where the secrets flow like the blood." they hear the bleach blond man laugh. "That smile betrays you again De Pluer."

"Well go on. Take the bloody bag off his head!" He said.

The bag is removed from Ajay's head and he saw his sister sitting next him staring with wide eyes. They were seated at a table filled with food, a man to their left, probably De Pluer, Darpan at their right, and the bleach blond man that spoke like a Bond villain in front of them.

"Again, terribly sorry about all that. This is more what I had in mind." The blond man sat down. "So let's start. Introductions. Ajay Ghale, one of our guests of honor." He pointed at Ajay and then pointed at the man on the right, "Paul, our very gracious host." He pointed at Darpan next, "The little monkey who's name I still don't know." And then he stared at Lana. "And you. What did your mother decide to call you when she brought you to America? Lana was it? And then there's me, Pagan Min." He paused for a bit. "You really don't remember me do you? I mean I don't expect 'Lana' to, she was just a baby at the time but Ajay you were what, three years old at the time? Your mother never spoke of me? Never mentioned me? Well we'll change all that." He looked at Paul. "Paul I need cash."

"How much do you need?" Paul asked as he took money out of his wallet and handed it to Pagan.

"All of it." Pagan said. "Here we are. Hmm?" He held up one of the pieces of paper money, that happened to have his face on it.

"How about this one?" He held up another one. and then another one.

"That's you." Ajay said.

"That's me." He paused and looked at the money. "Though I'm not so sure anymore."

"Now your mother..." He grabbed the urn with Ishwari's ashes in it and took off the lid. Lana tried to get up but Paul stopped her. "now she understood me. She knew me in a way no one ever did." He proceded to stick a finger in the urn and then stick the finger in his mouth. "That takes me back. The last time I saw Ishwari was years ago. When she told me she loved me. Women can do that. They can tell you that they love you and in the moment they mean it. Men on the other hand. No men only really love you in hindsight, when too much distance is built up. So when your mother decided to flee to the United States with you both, I could help but blame myself."

Pagan got up and walked over to a table and grabbed a portrait of a baby and then walked back over. "Recognize this girl? That's you Lana. Only you were called Lakshmana Min at the time. Ishwari's husband and Ajay's father, Mohan Ghale, tried to kill you and would have if Ishwari hadn't killed him first. But she felt you wouldn't be safe here so she took you away from me. Took you both away from me. Yes Ajay. I had grown quite fond of you too. Almost like the son I never had. Not that I minded that Ishwari gave me a daughter. No I loved you the moment she handed you to me, Lakshmana. But I don't blame her. It was safer for you both in America. I couldn't help but blame myself for all that." He stood behind Darpan. "But then I realized it's not me. It was the fucking Golden Path!" He slammed Darpan's head into the table and then stabbed him in the back with a fork. "Those fucking terrorists ruin everything. Like dinner. Did no one ever teach you that its rude to text at the table?" He slapped Darpan's hand till he let go of the phone he was holding. "Really guys? We're not checking for these anymore?" he said to the guards and then he read the texts. "Ah. 'I'm with Ajay Ghale.' You'll love this part. 'Help'" he laughed. "a text for help. You don't text for help, you cry for help." He pulled Darpan up by the fork in his back and walked him to the window. "If you're going to do something you're going to do it right. Go on. Cry for help. Cry for help."

"Help!" Darpan cried.

"Like you mean it!" Pagan said.

"Help!"

"Shh shh shh. Now we listen. Nothing. Your friends are not coming for you buddy." He pulled the fork out of Darpan's back. "Find out what he knows." Pagan said to the guards as they led Darpan away.

Ajay spared a look at his sister. She was still staring at the portrait of the baby, not even looking at what was happening around her.

"Terrorists. Right?" He walked towards the door, Paul following him. "Please, stay right here. Enjoy the crab rangoon. Don't move. I will be right back." He left the room.

Ajay rushed to his feet. "Lana. We need to find a way out of here. Come on!"

"And go where, Ajay?" Lana looked up at him. "This place is probably filled with guards."

"Darpan texted his friends for help. They'll be on their way right? We could get out with them." Ajay said trying to get Lana to her feet.

"The Golden Path, Ajay? Think about this for a second. Mom took us away from this place because she thought we would be at risk because of the Golden Path. You think they wouldn't try to kill me if they found out who I was? That I was his daughter?" Lana said still sitting.

"He could've been lying about that Lana." Ajay said desperetly.

"And if he isn't?"

Ajay sighed. "Then you're right. They'd probably try to kill you. I'm sorry." Ajay sat down.

"This is so surreal. Finding out that that man is my father. I mean, he's got his face printed on money. That's hard to take in." Lana said staring at the cash on the table.

"Are you ok?"

"I'm good." Lana smiled at him. "I mean, its weird, finding out my father is a self appointed king and all, but I found my father Ajay. I've always wanted to know who my father was." She winced and held her ribs. "That asshole who kicked me, really did a number on me. Wonder if I broke any ribs. Wouldn't be the first time."

Ajay stared at her in concern.

"It's ok Ajay. I've been hurt far worse before. I'll live."

They hear someone screaming in the other room. It sounded like Darpan was being tortured. They share a look between them. "What are we getting ourselves into?" Ajay said.

Soon Pagan was back. He had taken his suit jacket off. "Oh fan-bloody-tastic. I'm glad you are still here. I sincerely apologize. We saw terrorists in the area and yada yada. The crab rangoon. Right? It's..." there was another scream "...fabulous. Mm! Well come on, let's go!"

They followed him to a waiting helicopter. Lana looked out the window as they flew to wherever they were going. Ajay had to hope that the fact that Lana was Pagan's daughter would keep them safe. Pagan sat there glancing at them occasionally with a smile on his face. They finally landed.

"Three point landing. You know...part of me is surprised your mother asked for you to bring her all the way back here." Pagan said. The door was slid open by a soldier. "Ah. Thank you Kamran!" he said to the soldier as he got out.

Lana didn't hesitate to follow Pagan out of the helicopter. "Come on Ajay. Let's go." she said.

Ajay got out. They both followed Pagan to a small shrine. "This may be a little weird to see. Don't worry, we'll have the decorations changed, now that you are back, Lakshmana." He opened the doors and inside was a highly decorated room with an urn. And picture of a baby Lakshmana. This kind of weirded Lana out. "Like I said we'll have to change the decor. When your mother took you to America, I told everyone that you had been killed. Had a memorial set up for you. Now we can use this place for your mother's ashes." He went inside and grabbed the fake urn and came back outside with it.

"Go on. Place your mother's ashes."

Ajay and Lana slowly walked inside the shrine. Ajay carried his mother's ashes with him. He reluctantly placed the urn on the table where the fake urn had been. They just stood there staring at the urn for a bit.

"This is what she wanted, Ajay." Lana said. "She wanted to be returned here. And I guess she wanted us to get to know my father. Why else would she send us here?"

"But he's not my father, Lana. My father tried to kill you remember? Why would he care at all for me?" Ajay said.

"He obviously got close to you while mom was here with him. He said he grew fond of you, right? Don't worry about it, Ajay." Lana said.

They left the shrine and walked back to Pagan who was leaning against the helicopter. "Oh good. Do you feel better now? Get it out of your system? Good."

Lana winced and held her side.

"Can we get some medical attention for her?" Ajay said concerned.

Pagan looked concerned too. "I completely forgot. I'm sorry." He pointed at a nearby guard. "You. Go get the doctor." He looked at Lana. "Does it hurt badly? Anything broken? I should shoot all of those border guards. Honestly, they should've listened to me and just stopped the bus, nothing more. Alright, let's go inside. Kamran, change of plans. We wont be needing the helicopter for a bit. Do keep it waiting for us though." He put his arm around Lana and led her inside the Palace, Ajay following behind them.

The doctor met them inside the palace and took a look at Lana. "It would seem that a few of her ribs are broken. Her face is fine. Just badly bruised. I would put some ice on it. As for the ribs, there's not much I can do. She should take it easy for about a month so they can heal." said the doctor after he was finished.

Pagan had some ice brought in and wrapped some up in a towel and handed it to Lana who was sitting down in a chair. "Thank you doctor. You can leave now." the doctor bowed and then left the room. "Well. This changes what I had planned. I had planned on taking you along while we took down the rest of the Golden Path. I suppose Ajay can still come with me but I think it's best if Lakshmana rests here at the palace. We want those ribs to heal right, don't we?"

Lana actually looked a little disappointed, much to Ajay's surprise. He supposed he shouldn't be too surprised though. It was Lana. She did like adventure.

Lana sighed. "Ok. Fine."

"Good girl. Let's get you to your room shall we? When I heard you two were coming, I keep tabs on those requesting to enter my country, I had rooms prepared for you both. Come on then." Pagan led them to a rather fancy looking bedroom. "This is your room Lakshmana. If you need anything, get a guard's attention and they'll get a servant for you. They've been told you are here. The bathroom is over there. I suggest you get yourself cleaned up. I have some new clothing for you over there in the dresser. I didn't know your size so I got a few different sizes. We'll bring in a tailor later to get you clothes that fit. Please get some rest. Ajay and I will be back before too long."

"Alright. Have fun." Lana said a little disappointed she couldn't come along.

"Always." Pagan said with a smile. "Don't worry. You are safe here."

Pagan left the room, Ajay seeing if she was alright before following Pagan.

Lana huffed and sat on the bed. She felt like they were treating her like a child. Yeah she was injured but it didn't mean she was going to fall apart. She supposed she understood though. Pagan was seeing his daughter for the first time in years. It wasn't surprising he was being overprotective. But it was a bit annoying. She just hoped Ajay would be alright with him. She'd have some rather heated words with Pagan, with her father, if Ajay was injured on their 'adventure'.

She got up and checked out the bathroom. It was actually pretty nice. There was all the modern amenities. A very large tub, and a shower. She was feeling a bit grungy so she went and had a shower. There were various different fancy looking soaps available to her. She picked one that smelled like flowers and cleaned herself up. When she was done in the shower she looked inside the dresser at the clothes available. All looked rather expensive. She avoided the dresses. They looked way too fancy. She picked a shirt and pants that seemed to be her size and put them on. The shirt seemed like it was made of real silk, and it probably was. The pants were also expensive looking. They didn't fit perfectly but they fit well enough. She flopped down on the bed and then winced as her ribs twinged in pain. She ended up falling asleep rather quickly.

Meanwhile Ajay was with Pagan as they flew over a Golden Path controlled village in the helicopter. They were watching as some soldiers overrun the place. Once it seemed that the place was mostly secure, the helicopter touched down and Pagan got out, urging Ajay to follow him. They walked into the village. Two Golden Path members were dragged out of the safe house. A man and a woman. When the man saw Ajay, he got really angry.

"Traitor! What would your father think, you siding with Pagan Min?!" the man snarled.

"I told you that he wouldn't care about our cause, Sabal! It's that bitch sister of his that he cares about more." the woman said. Pagan kicked the woman in the chest when she said that.

"Language. That is my daughter you are talking about." Pagan said. "Now what to do with you two? Ajay? Have any suggestions? Keep in mind they'd slaughter your sister without thinking twice, just because it would hurt me."

Ajay's eyes widened. He didn't know how to respond to the question. "I don't know."

"Well we have several options. We could just shoot them right here. We could take them back to Paul's place and torture them or...we could send them to Durgesh. It's a prison. Yuma Lau, my second-in-command runs it." Pagan said.

At the mention of Durgesh, they actually look a bit nervous. Ajay thought that place must be pretty bad if torture was preferable to it. It seemed as though death was the most merciful option for the two.

"Shoot them then." Ajay said.

"Ah, the merciful option. You are very like your mother. Alright. Soldiers. Shoot them in the head. Let's make this quick." Pagan said, ordering his soldiers to kill the two Golden Path members.

"You think you've won! You'll never win! Not as long as there are people willing to fight for freedom and their heritage!" the man named Sabal yelled.

Two soldiers aimed their weapons at them and shot. The man and woman fell down dead. Ajay looked away.

Suddenly two soldiers came over dragging a young girl who was struggling in their arms. "Let me go!"

"Ah this must be the 'Tarun Matara' everyone goes on and on about." Pagan said. "What should we do with you?"

Ajay drew the line at watching a child get murdered in front of him. She couldn't be more than 14 or 15? That was too young. "Don't kill her. She's just a kid."

"To you maybe. To the Golden Path however, she is not a child. She is a figurehead. Someone to rally behind. Ishwari told me all about how they treated her when she was the Tarun Matara herself." Pagan said sighing. "But you're right. There are other ways to deal with her. And you aren't really a willing figurehead are you dear?" He directed at the girl.

"Please! You're right. I don't even want to be the Tarun Matara. I just want to be a normal kid. Please don't kill me." the girl pleaded.

"We bring the girl with us. Unharmed. Take her to the helicopter." Pagan said.

They spent the rest of the day finding as many Golden Path members they could find. Then they made their way back to the Palace in the helicopter.

Back at the Palace, Lana was woken from her sleep by something. She didn't know what. She got up and took a look around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. A servant came in suddenly.

"My apologies. I thought you'd be asleep." the servant said.

"No worries. Why are you here?" Lana said.

The servant took a knife out of their sleeve. "I'm sorry. But you must die. For the Golden Path!"

They came at her with the knife. Lana sidestepped them and used her martial arts training to disarm and bring them to the floor unconscious. She ran out of the room and noticed the guards next to her room were dead. She went looking for any guard who might be alive.

When she found two guards she cried out to them. "Someone just tried to kill me! They're still in my room!" The guards rushed to her room and took the, still unconscious, assassin into custody, dragging them out of the room. So much for getting some sleep Lana thought to herself. She knew she wasn't getting any more sleep for awhile so she explored the palace, two guards following close behind her.

Lana was admiring the view outside when the helicopter returned. When Pagan climbed out he noticed her outside. "What happened to getting some rest?" Pagan said. Ajay climbed out of the copter behind him with a young girl who was looking around nervously.

"Someone tried to kill me while I was in my room sleeping." She noticed Pagan's concern. "I'm fine. I disarmed and knocked them out. I assume the guards will have them stashed somewhere for you. But I couldn't get any sleep after that so I went exploring."

"Fucking Golden Path! In my own house!" Pagan raged. "I'm glad you didn't kill them my dear. It will give me a chance to interrogate them."  
Pagan went up to some guards and talked with them for a bit.

"I'm glad you're alright." Ajay went up to Lana and gave her a hug.

"Gently. The ribs are still broken." Lana said. He let her go looking sheepish. "So who's the kid?" she asked.

"Uh, actually I don't think I learned her name."

"It's Bhadra." the girl said quietly, still looking nervous.

"Hiya Bhadra. I'm Lana. Or technically I guess my name is Lakshmana. Nice to meet you."

"Are you That Lakshmana? Lakshmana Min? Everybody thinks you're dead." Bhadra said.

"Well I was alive last time I checked. But yes I'm that Lakshmana apparently." Lana said. "I've been in America with my brother."

"I'd love to go to America someday. Was it as nice there as people say?" Bhadra said.

"I guess. Depends on where in America you go. Some places are great. Others not so much. But I guess everywhere in the world is like that." Lana said.

"Alright. I've got a prisoner to interrogate. I'll have someone get a room prepared for...Bhadra was it? And later we'll figure out what to do with her." Pagan said walking up to them. "Lakshmana. You don't have to sleep but take it easy. That's an order. You can explore the palace but stay within the grounds. That goes for both of you, Ajay. I don't want something to happen to either of you. We'll talk more later at dinner." Pagan walked off somewhere.

"Sooo. Did you have fun while you were off with dad?" Lana asked as they walked around the grounds.

"It depends on what your definition of fun is. There was a lot of shooting. The Golden Path is pretty done for now." He looked down at Bhadra. "Sorry. I hope there wasn't anybody you cared about there. If there was, I'm really sorry."

"It's ok. Most of the people in the Golden Path didn't treat me like a kid. They either treated me with reverence or like I was the ideal wife material, which was gross by the way. Not many treated me like a normal person. They just saw the Tarun Matara. I'm not saying what Pagan Min did was right, but at least I'm free from all that now." Bhadra.

"Wow. I'm glad you got away from all that. That's way too much for a kid to deal with." Lana said. "Though, to be honest, I doubt people will treat me the same after Pagan... after father, goes public with the fact that I'm alive. I guess I'm technically a princess now? That is too weird to think about."

Ajay laughed. "My sister, a princess. Sounds about right."

"Hey what do you think you are? He said you're practically the son he never had." Lana playfully shoved Ajay.


	2. Chapter 2

Pagan PoV

Pagan was so excited to have Ajay and Lakshmana home finally. It was sad that it took the death of Ishwari to get them here, but he assumed that Ishwari hadn't really purposely left it till her death to send them here . No, she must've been preparing them to join him here and then fallen ill and ran out of time. He missed Ishwari terribly and would always miss her he guessed. But he was glad to have his children back. More than glad. He was thrilled.

He decided to interrogate the Golden Path assassin that had almost killed Lakshmana himself. He walked into the dungeon room slowly, pacing back and forth in front of the chained up assassin.

"So... Why did you think it would be ok to kill my daughter? No don't answer that. I already know the answer." he walked up and got in their face with a sharp looking knife. "You Golden Path fucks are all the same. Willing to ignore your own morals to see that your agenda is carried out. You should've left my daughter out of it." Then he did his best, with various objects, to make the prisoner scream. And scream they did. It was glorious.

"Now, I'm going to ask you to give me the locations of each and every Golden Path hideout you know. And you will tell me. You will." The prisoner was crying. "Shh. Don't cry. Don't cry. I haven't even really started yet."

After he was finished with the prisoner, he sent them to Durgesh. No one tries to kill his flesh and blood and gets away with it.  
Later, he had a lavish dinner set out to celebrate Ajay and Lakshmana returning and also the beginning of the end of the Golden Path. Those things were definitely things to celebrate. Ajay and Lakshmana entered the room laughing with that...Bhadra girl. He still didn't know what to do with her. He couldn't just let her leave. Pagan put it out of his mind for the moment. He motioned for Ajay and Lakshmana to sit down at the table.

Lana/Lakshmana PoV

Lana, Ajay, and Bhadra were joking around a bit when they were approached by a servant, saying that it was time for dinner. When they walked into the palace dining room, Pagan was already sitting down waiting for them. He smiled at them and motioned for them to sit down. There was a lavish amount of food laid out on the table.

"I'd like to propose a toast." Pagan said when they had started eating. "To the imminent end of the Golden Path. And to family. Its good to have you home."

They raised their glasses.

"I hope you had a pleasant time exploring the grounds." Pagan said going back to eating.

"We did. It's beautiful here." Lana said.

"It is isn't it? I was wondering... Are you two planning on staying?" Pagan asked, looking a bit hopeful that they'd say yes.

"Well I hadn't really thought of that. We mostly came here to fulfill our mother's last wishes." Ajay said. Pagan looked a little disappointed.

"I wouldn't mind staying to be honest. I don't really have anything important going on back home in America. Just saying." Lana said.

"This is a big decision Lana. We can't just drop everything back home and not go back." Ajay said.

"Yes we can Ajay. It's not that hard. I just finished college. I don't have anything going on. And don't tell me you were overly attached to where we lived. Because you weren't." Lana said.

"Well whatever you decide, you will have a place here." Pagan said. "You two are important to me."

"Thanks dad." Lana smiled. Pagan beamed at being called dad.

A week later most of the remaining Golden Path members were rounded up on the information that the assassin provided. Some were executed, some were sent to Durgesh. Pagan threw another party to celebrate and had invited the lackeys closest to him. Paul showed up and was cheerful as always, chatting about his family back in the states. Ajay and Lana also finally got to meet Yuma Lau. Lana liked Yuma's attitude. Yuma didn't take any of Pagan's shit or at least it seemed that way. Yuma was initially rather cold to both Ajay and Lana for some reason but actually seemed to warm up to Lana a bit as the night wore on. Lana was fascinated with the local legends and Yuma was as well. She talked Lana's ear off about Kalinag and Shangri-La and Lana listened fascinated. Bhadra stuck by Ajay the whole time. She was still a little nervous of being there in the palace. Over all it was a fun night. Lana got drunk and it seemed as though so did her father. When Lana and Pagan woke up the next day, they were both very hungover.

As Lana had suspected, Pagan wanted to make it public that his daughter was back. He made a public speech about it.

"My loyal subjects. Something wonderful has happened. I know how I said my dear Lakshmana died but I only did it to protect her. Her mother took her away to keep her safe and I fully supported this decision. She has now returned to me. Your princess has returned to you, Kyrat. I now present to you my daughter, Lakshmana Min."

Lana walked up and waved at the camera and the assembled people. Lana was very uncomfortable, and not just because of the dress she had been forced to wear. She didn't hate crowds really. She just didn't like crowds that were all staring at her. She was just glad that her father hadn't forced her to say anything to the crowd.

Ajay wanted to go home to the states. He told Lana this one day as they were wandering the palace grounds.

"Why Ajay? We have a family here! Don't go!" Lana begged him.

"Relax Lana. I'm not going away forever. I just need to go take care of a few things and I'll come right back." Ajay reassured her. He needed to get a few mementos and such. He also needed to say goodbye to people properly. He had friends there. Lana might be fine just saying goodbye to her former life without looking back but Ajay needed to say goodbye to his old life properly.

"I'm so relieved to hear that. I was worried." Lana said.

"I also have to take Bhadra here to America with Paul. Paul's family said they'd take her in." Ajay said smiling at Bhadra when he said it.

"What? Really?! I get to go to America?!" Bhadra said excitedly. She went and hugged Ajay.

"Pagan took care of the details. Got you a passport and everything. Presumably once the adoption is finalized you'll be made an American citizen." Ajay said as hugged her back.

"Thank you!" She said beaming.

"Wow. This is great! I guess this way you won't have to worry about people looking at you like you're a reincarnated goddess anymore." Lana said happily.

"You have no idea what a relief that will be. And I finally get to see another country! Will they let me go to a school? I'd love to go to a school." Bhadra said excitedly.

"Don't worry. It's kind of required that kids go to school in America. And if you are going to the same school as Paul's daughter, then its most likely a posh private school. Those are a lot better than public school." Ajay said.

Bhadra couldn't look any more happy.

The next day, Ajay, Paul, and Bhadra left for the States. Paul wanted to give Bhadra a tour of the States so Lana and Pagan got several postcards from different states. When Ajay finally got back to Kyrat he told Lana all about it.

"Bhadra just loved Yellowstone. And Yosemite. She took tons of pictures with the camera that Paul gifted her. She met with Paul's family. They seemed nice. I do think that Paul's wife is cheating on him but he doesn't seem to mind actually. Ashley, Paul's daughter, seemed excited to have a new sister. Bhadra and her seemed to get along really well. Paul and his wife gifted Bhadra a ton of new clothes and they had a really nice room set up for her. They even gave her a new laptop. She seems really happy. I'm relieved she'll be taken care of." Ajay said.

"I'm relieved too. She deserves a better life than she had. Now she'll get to learn how to be a kid." Lana said.

"And I wont have to worry about someone here trying to use the Tarun Matara as a rallying point. It works out for all of us. Everyone lives happily ever after and yada yada." Pagan said walking up. "It's good to see you made it safely home, Ajay."

"It's good to be home." Ajay said.

They didn't quite live happily ever after but they lived their lives and enjoyed themselves. Pagan got to have the family he always wanted, and Lana and Ajay got the father figure they always wanted. Even if Pagan wasn't always the best role model. There were other resistance fighters ever so often and the three of them dealt with it together. Lakshmana, as she liked to called herself now, helped her father change a few things that were wrong with Kyrat. Well, more like she yelled at him, and even got into a physical fight with him once, till he listened to her and got things fixed. The people of Kyrat loved her for it and Yuma Lau actually started respecting her. Ajay got trained how to fight and took to it very quickly. He became part of the royal army. Pagan was very proud of his kids. When Pagan got too old he handed the country over to Lakshmana. Lakshmana Min became a very popular queen. Her people loved her. And Ajay protected his sister like he always did. He became her right hand man. Long live the Queen, motherfuckers!


End file.
